


Let the Whole World Know

by Im_The_Doctor (Bofur1)



Category: Transformers Generation One
Genre: Abuse of Authority, Anger, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Anniversary, Arguing, Brotherly Bonding, Bullying, Cameos, Energon, False Teaching, Family Feels, Fist Fights, Flashbacks, Gen, Identity Issues, Injustice, Lies, Life Lessons, Minor Injuries, Oaths & Vows, Physical Abuse, Protectiveness, Psychopathology & Sociopathy, Sparklings, Twins
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-20
Updated: 2015-03-20
Packaged: 2018-03-18 19:37:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3581427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bofur1/pseuds/Im_The_Doctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <em>...that today is a day of reckoning!<em></em></em>
</p><p> </p><p>  <em><br/>    <br/>  </em></p><p> </p><p>  <em><br/>    <em>Sunstreaker is in a terrible mood, even worse than usual, and Sideswipe's attempt to distract him only proves to cause other far more serious problems.</em><br/>  </em></p>
            </blockquote>





	Let the Whole World Know

“How are you doing, Sunny? Paintjob holding up under these pressuring top speeds?” Sideswipe called laughingly over the wind.

“Ha-ha,” Sunstreaker snapped back, but there wasn’t any ire in his vocals. At least, not much. “I’m just fine, alright, Sides?”

“Okay, okay, chill,” Sideswipe protested, swerving a little on the road to nudge his side view mirror against his brother’s in a little shove. He hoped this drive he had suggested would cool down Sunstreaker’s motors; he’d seemingly been under some stress today, although Sideswipe couldn’t quite pinpoint what had changed in their daily routine to make Sunny feel this way.

As they reached the nearby city, Sunstreaker easily slipped among the inanimate vehicles and Sideswipe followed his lead, but it wasn’t long before they were perpetually stopped at a series of red lights. He could feel Sunstreaker’s annoyance bolstering through their bond and he sent calm patience through to counter it, hoping it would rub off on Sunstreaker a bit. The last thing he needed was a sudden outburst that would scare the humans.

Trying to distract Sunstreaker, he messaged him through their bond. _~:Look at that family, Sunny. Isn’t their sparkling cute?:~_ The family in question was passing through the crosswalk in front of them. The Carrier—or mother, as the humans called them—was walking the older sparkling along with her left hand while supporting her newspark in a pouch against her chest with the right. The Sire—father—was walking a fair way apart from them, juggling the newspark’s supply bags.

 _~:Yeah, cute enough for a pink, fussy little human,:~_ Sunstreaker admitted, his spark tone the tiniest fraction lighter. Abruptly, just as soon as he’d finished speaking, Sunstreaker inadvertently sent a powerful blast of anger through. Sideswipe startled, wondering what had caused it, and refocused his attention on the family in front of them.

The newspark had been fussing, trying to escape the pouch, and the mother had released the older sparkling’s hand to try comforting the newspark. Without warning, the father had moved in and grabbed her hand in a harsh, commanding grip. Now he was speaking in severe tones. Concerned, Sideswipe rolled forward just a fraction and tuned his audials in.

“You _never_ let go of his hand, Elianna, especially in a crosswalk! Who knows where the little brat will run off to? Are you _trying_ to get him hit by a car?!”

The woman, Elianna, tried to speak, but the man wouldn’t let her, shaking her wrist violently and then pointing with his other hand toward…toward Sideswipe, of all vehicles. He blinked his headlights a little in surprise as the father continued his rant.

“That car doesn’t care what you were doing! He could be a crackpot for all we know and do you think crackpots care about little kids who have been abandoned and left for dead by their mothers?! Of course he doesn’t! If anything he just cares about keeping his fender straight! It doesn’t even need your little boy splayed across it; the _dirt’s_ the only thing holding it together, but if it hits the kid and falls apart, who do you think is gonna get sued by the crackpot? Me! Why do I even bother?!”

Sideswipe felt an unfamiliar dread crawl over his hood as Sunstreaker sent another, deeper blast of protective fury. Before Sideswipe could even start to form words against it, Sunstreaker was transforming, casting a towering shadow over the little family. The newspark started crying then. To any other eye, it would have seemed like Sunstreaker didn’t notice, but Sideswipe knew he saw it just fine. When Sunny got angry, he could take in any or every detail. It only added to his wrath.

The light changed to green and the other drivers, startled by the sudden appearance of a Transformer, swerved to avoid the situation. Sideswipe barely noticed.

“You,” Sunstreaker snarled at the man, who was trying to maintain his dignity even in his surprise, “You have _no right_ to—”

“Sunstreaker,” a voice cut in hurriedly. As he got to his feet and grabbed Sunny’s shoulder, whirling him around so they were optic to optic, Sideswipe realized he was the one who had spoken. That wasn’t even the most disconcerting thing. It was the gleam in Sunny’s gaze, one very familiar but long-ago.

—

“No one will listen to me!” Smokesweeper growled, clenching his fists as he stomped into his family suite.

Fastlane, his sparkmate, shook her helm with unease, which was usually as close as she got to frustration. “Maybe we should take this as a sign, sweetspark, that it’s not our place to get involved.”

“But you didn’t see it,” Smokesweeper insisted angrily, ceil blue optics flashing. “Tripslide _struck_ his sparkling! All he did was tug one of his younger brother’s audials—a playful gesture!—and Tripslide completely overreacted!” Smokesweeper locked his arms behind his back and began to pace, continuing, “I have reported it to the authorities because it’s abuse, but they think I’m simply doing it so their attention will be brought to everything that’s wrong in this sector of the city! They think I’m trying to lure them into sending us resources that they _supposedly_ can’t spare!”

Fastlane sighed heavily as she leveled out a spoonful of barium and a spoonful of silver, pouring them into two half-filled energon cubes. “Sunstreaker, come get these for you and your brother,” she called.

The elder of their spark-split twins trotted over obediently, careful to keep the cubes separate so he knew which was which. As he turned to leave, however, Smokesweeper moved in front of him and knelt to his optic-level.

“Sunny, I need to ask you something important,” he said solemnly.

Sunstreaker squinted in confusion. “Sire?”

“Smokesweeper,” Fastlane entreated softly, but her sparkmate shook his helm to quiet her, determination in his optics.

“If you saw another sparkling being hurt,” Smokesweeper started, “what would you do?”

“I don’t know,” Sunstreaker mumbled, unsure why his Sire was asking. “’pends who it was.”

“If it were Sideswipe, then?” Smokesweeper tried, much to Fastlane’s visible dismay. Sunstreaker’s optics darkened and his grip on the energon cubes tightened, causing the liquid to slosh against the edges.

“I wouldn’t let Sides get hurt,” he declared fiercely. “I’d beat up whoever was beatin’ him up!”

Smokesweeper glanced at Fastlane and tried to soften his following nod. “That’s right. I know you understand, Sunny, that it’s your job to protect people who you love. But sometimes it’s your job to protect people you don’t even know, people who can’t protect themselves very well.”

“I can protect myself!” Sideswipe piped up from across the room, imitating weaponry firing. “Bam! Bam! No bad mechs are gonna get me!”

“’Specially not since I’m here to beat ’em up,” Sunstreaker affirmed decisively, glancing toward his brother with an unreadable expression.

“But Sunny,” Fastlane cut in, “you also have to realize that there are some rules you need to follow. You’ll learn more about them when you’re grown, but there are limits to protecting people. Also, if you were constantly beating people up, there wouldn’t be any time to play!” This last part was said cheerfully, but her tone was somewhat uncertain as she concluded, “Do you understand?”

“Mm-hm,” Sunstreaker acknowledged, satisfying his Carrier, but Smokesweeper could see that whether it was intentional or not, he wasn’t speaking the truth. Ex-venting slowly, he brushed his hands affectionately over Sunstreaker’s audial fins and promised, “I’m going out, but I’ll be back later.”

Later, when the solar cycle was very close to ending, Sunstreaker was shaken out of recharge by Sideswipe. “Si’s back,” Sideswipe hissed in his audial. His shortened version of ‘Sire’ sounded familiar enough, but something in his tone brought Sunstreaker to instant alertness.

“What’s wrong?” Sunstreaker whispered back as he sat up.

“He looks messy,” Sideswipe commented oh-so-innocently. “He’s got energon all over him. Do you think he was drinkin’ some and spilled it?”

Sunstreaker leapt up and bolted down the hall into the galley area, where he found his Carrier hovering as his Sire studied himself in a mirror, brushing at places on his armor with a moist shammy.

“Si!” Sunstreaker called worriedly, taking Sideswipe’s hand as his brother came to his side. “Did you beat ’em up?”

Smokesweeper stared at Fastlane in the mirror without apology as he answered, “Yeah, I did, Sunny. Those two little sparklings, Tread and Betaflux, they know they need to protect each other now, like you do.”

“You’re all scratched up,” Sideswipe declared in puzzlement.

Smokesweeper turned at that, approaching his creations and kneeling. “Not for long,” he answered firmly. “I’m going to get a touchup tomorrow. Sides, Sunny, listen to me.” Here he paused, drawing Sideswipe close and running the shammy down his chest plates. “You never let anyone scar you like this, you understand? No one is allowed to get away with that. Not only do you protect each other, you protect yourselves. Don’t let anyone _near_ your paint.” Here he started on the grooves in Sunstreaker’s shoulders. “You’ve got to look your best in your life and _never_ let anyone say that you don’t look so. It proves you’re a proud mech. Are you proud mechs?”

“Yes, Sire,” they chorused immediately. “Can I go with you to touchups too?” Sunstreaker asked hopefully.

“Of course,” Smokesweeper agreed with the barest hint of a smile.

Sideswipe looked thoughtful. “Does mud count as ‘anyone’? I mean, is it bad if mud gets us scratched up? Can we still play outside?”

“Of course,” Fastlane echoed her sparkmate, trying to smile but finding it difficult. “You’re still sparklings, Sides, and you should enjoy it!” Smokesweeper caught the hidden warning and seized his creations suddenly, tucking one under each arm, much to their surprise.

“Back to the berths with you both. You won’t look your best _or_ be able to play if you’re deprived of recharge, will you?”

“Won’t be able to fight good either,” Sunstreaker added, to which both Smokesweeper and Sideswipe nodded solemnly.

—

Sideswipe shared the remembered emotions of Sunstreaker’s flashback. “He’s insulted you,” Sunstreaker concluded, pointing an accusatory finger at the head of the human family. “ _My_ brother. He’s not allowed to get away with that!”

“Think about this, Sunny,” Sideswipe murmured, dropping his words to their spark bond. _~:You’re more upset that he insulted me than you are about the fact that he doesn’t treat his sparkmate—wife—with respect.:~_

 _~:Then not only should I knock out his lights, I should **shoot** him!:~_ Sunstreaker shot back. _~:Neither of you deserve that kind of abuse. Let me rearrange his appearance and see how he likes it!:~_ With that he shrugged off Sideswipe’s hand and turned back, but in the distraction the family had disappeared.

Sunstreaker growled and returned his optics to Sideswipe. “Now I won’t get the chance!” he snapped, shoving Sideswipe in his frustration before storming to the other side of the street and pushing his way into the lane so he could start the drive back to base.

Sideswipe glanced down at the row of small scratches that Sunny’s shove had pressed into his chest plate. He needed to buff those out when he got back—With a deep, guilty sigh at the familiar thought, he trudged after his twin, transforming and driving after him in silence. At least, vocal silence. Through the bond, pressed up against the wall Sunstreaker was trying to build between them, he whispered, _~:I understand now what you were doing, Sunny. But just because it’s the anniversary of Sire’s deactivation doesn’t mean you need to be—:~_

 _~:Who I am,:~_ Sunstreaker finished for him, his bitterness still seeping over the wall like smoke. _~:And that’s your protector. I swear to Primus, Sides, as I have since that day, that I’m not going to let anyone get to you. If you won’t let me protect humans like Elianna—protect them **my** way—you’re the last thing I **can** protect. Get used to it.:~_

Sideswipe relented, not saying anything more; let Sunstreaker build the wall, for both their sakes. Just because he had secretly sworn the same oath that day, it didn’t mean that his charge needed to know.


End file.
